Its English again..elder or older..eldest or oldest..

Didn't I tell you to PM me if you have any problems with the English Language? But why bother when you can start a discussion on it & earn lots of American Dollars from doing so? Anyway, the answer is very simple. "Elder" only goes before a noun - as in "my elder brother", whereas you can use "older" in both situations: "my older brother" or "he is older than me". To further complicate things, use elder out of respect for age or authority. Eldest is often used when three or more persons are compared. In comparing two people, elder means "older" but not necessarily "old": My elder sister is sixteen; my younger, twelve. In other contexts, elder denotes relatively advanced age but with the added component of respect for a person's achievement, as in an elder statesman. If age alone is to be expressed, one should use older or elderly rather than elder: A survey of older Americans; an elderly waiter. In addition, elder & eldest are only used when referring to people whereas older, old, oldest may be used also to describe or compare objects. Hope this helps you - or makes your poor head spin even more! I'll bet you don't have this trouble with Hindi or your local dialect!

Hello Vannie. Okay, my elder, that is you, you use when talking about older people. You say he/she is older than me, not elder than me. I am the oldest child of the family. I never really used the word eldest actually. Was used to or accustomed to, you can both use. Whichever sentence it is the same thing.

For people that do not have English as their first language, like me, it seems pretty confusing. On my part, though, I use "older" most of the time when describing a person, like "older sister" or "older than my dad." I think "elder" is more formal and connotes respect (like "elder brother/ sister) and I use it more of a noun (as in "the town elders"). Hopefully native English speakers can help us out here? And to respond to your PS: You could probably say "I always referred to them as..."

Dear Vandanaji I got more confused reading this. Do not know for sure what you need. I think all are ok. Sorry. Cannot add any valuable response here but I have to respond as it would show up in my participated discussions and I can keep coming back here easily to find a solution or even add to my confusions.

Vandanji I was teaching english in colleges for few years. I tell you my experience, first of all english is not our mother tongue, in our school days, we were asked to translate in to english, a paragraph from our language, it was supposed to be 'gramatically' correct. In colleges there was a passage from our language, to be retranslated to english.. But now things have gone worst, people have forgotten grammer it seems, they say, if one can understand, what you want to convey, that is enough.. So for them older, elder, senior has the same meaning.. Thank you so much for this discussion Namastey. ^Kalyani^

Hi Vandana, I am also not very good in ENGLISH. Though i completed all my sudies in ENGLISH still i find it a difficult langauge because we people rarely talk in ENGLISH. Referring to your querry i think the word oldest is the right one eldest word doesnot exist in ENGLISH i think. Please correct me if anyone knows it. Many a times it is confusing to write sentences. many times i feel it something wrong i am writing technically but could not able to find it. Above all no rgrets because ENGLISH is not our langauge whatever i know i think is abonus for me.

Hi vandana7, I'm still here learning my English. I think it doesn't matter for me to join in the fun here anyway. I'm the second child in my family and my brother is two years older than me. He is my elder by two years.

both of the words elder and older are in use, and I think both are correct.

hi vandy if I had an older brother,well half brother, I would say this is Howard my older brother.l will say I respect my elders and hope others do to as you cannot say I respect my olders. Older has to have a subject it cannot stand alone. He is the older of two , not the elder of two.Although I guess you could say elder of two but it sounds out dated to me even archaic.I know our English language does seem confusing in a lot of spots.

OK Here I come! The term 'older'/'oldest' is used when it comes to anyone be it a friend or a family member. For eaxmple 'She is the oldest among us friends' 'She is the oldest sister' 'That friend is older than this friend' That sister is older than me'The term elder/eldest is when referring to family members. She is my elder sister, She is my eldest sister. Elderly is referred to any one who is aged.

Hi Vandana, For me I guess they are all correct, the rule is how you used it in a sentence.Elder are is a more polite way of saying it and referring to an older person.Older is used when you are comparing between two person.Eldest or oldest you are comparing one person to a group.This is how the way I understand it maybe I'm wrong , English is not my native language.I hope this helps...

Elder always goes before a noun. Examples: My elder sister - correct! She is elder than me - incorrect! Older- can do both: My older sister - correct! She is older than me - still correct!

Elder which is Singular which Means One Person Who is Old. Add an S called Plural an You Refer to more than One Person. Elders means also a Group of Old People. Elderly means an Old Person. Older means a Person is Aging each Year or Who is the Oldest in a Family or a Group of People

I'm pretty sure most Americans, at least, use the word older. When I see someone use the word elder, it sounds to me as though they are foreign. It's correct, but it sounds outdated and I only really see it in old storybooks.

elder - is used to compare the ages of people within a family. older - is used to show the difference in years. For e example, I may be older than you but you do not say that you have a friend who is elder than you ; you say your friend is ‘older ‘ than you. When ‘elder ‘ has to be used with reference to an old person ‘elderly’ can also be used. Elder can be used only for people[exception may be in the case of animals where we would know the date of birth if we have them at home as pets. You can say that something is the ‘oldest piece of furniture in your house’ but you cannot use ‘eldest ‘ instead. A book or chair can be older than another item but not ‘elder’. “In some discussions people write my elder sister, or my elder brother, which incidentally was the way I was accustomed to referring them.-your original sentence. modified- In some discussions people write “ my elder sister, or my elder brother” which incidentally is what I have been accustomed to”.-I feel this is the simplest way of expressing it .'ACCUSTOMED TO' need not be followed by 'referring or ''refer' in this instance because the sentence is simple enough and also conveys the same meaning.

The form of the word with an E is old fashioned and extremely formal. Most American speakers never ever use eldest etc. I use both forms but I'm a word junkie. Even so, I use oldest older etc 99% of the time.